


Toye's Pizza

by smollchris



Category: Band of Brothers, The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Teenagers, if you think im gonna kill julian off you have another thing coming buddy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-08-09 05:11:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7787947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smollchris/pseuds/smollchris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Babe was looking for a job, maybe it was the fact that he knew the owner or maybe because it was close to home but he decided on Toye's pizza place. The cute driver with an accent was a bonus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. that was easy

Everyone in town new about the Toye’s pizza place, it was just one of those places you grew up with. Babe couldn’t even imagine the town without it, every time there was a power outage babe’s parents would get Toye’s pizza because they were the only place with a generator. He knew the owners; he grew up with their son Joe. He was more Bill’s friend then Babe’s if he was being honest, it had always been him, Bill, Julian and Spina. Joe would come over every once and awhile but he was usually seen with George Luz and Frank Perconte at school. Joe and bill were also older than babe by two years, he had a late birthday, he was 15 and they were graduating this coming year at 17. Julian was a year younger and Spina was his age, but babe defiantly had the baby face of the group, even compared to Julian who towered over him and Spina. So Joe Toye wasn’t really in babe’s mind a whole lot, until he realized he really needed a job. There was this huge camping trip a bunch of kids from school and the neighborhood were going on and he’d be damned if he couldn’t go. Plus, what kid his age didn’t have a job?

After asking around town for a bit he decided it wouldn’t hurt to check in at the pizza place, most of the places in town knew him well enough but just weren’t looking to hire. He tried the Pacific grill but the boy working there was giving him the most terrifying stare, like a predator and prey until a redheaded boy yelled at him for scaring customers again “Godammit Snafu if I catch you looking at anymore people like that I’ll fire your ass” The boy turned and gave him a toothy smile “Can’t help that I like redheads sledgehamma” Both him and ‘Sledgehamma’ turned bright red and he left without even asking about a job. No luck at the Generation Café either, all he got was traumatized.  
It was a more brisk summer night and he was sporting some light wash skinny jeans, a white jumper that was extremely 80’s, and his ratty white converse. Not the height of fashion. He went to grab for the handle when the door swung open towards him which caused him to jump backwards. He lost his footing and fell directly on his ass. “FUCK WHAT WAS THAT ‘FO?!” He snapped, looking up he saw the bastard who whipped the door open on his face. The boy was a taller than Babe if he had been standing up rather than on his now bruising ass, he had thick dark hair that was artfully messy and it made his pale skin stand out a lot more. He looked like a confused puppy and Babe felt really bad for yelling at him, he was holding a couple pizza boxes and had his work hat on backwards, so he could guess he worked there. “Oh I’m real sorry, It’s been a busy Friday and I just kinda..whipped through the door without looking” The boy said as he grabbed Babe’s arm and lifted him up, he had a thick accent that Babe couldn’t quite place.“It’s fine, I get it. You’re a driver right?” The boy smiled at him and nodded. “Yeah I’m new here, just moved.” Realization dawned on his face and he gave a bashful smile “Real sorry, gotta run! See you ‘round” he yelled at Babe as he ran to his truck, pizza boxes hugged into his chest. 

He smiled to himself and knew he was about 50 shades of red right now, from anger or something else he didn’t really wanna know. Opening the door to the building he was immediately hit with the hum of conversations and the amazing smell of homemade pizza. The place was fairly small, longer rather than wide. There was a small area where you could wait for pickup and a tall counter in front that came up to shoulders. You could see everything going on in the back, where the food prep and everything was. The counter on the other side was full of notepads with orders and old phones, there were two boys currently babbling into the phones and writing down orders. One he recognized as Luz and the other Perconte who was writing too fast for any human. Suddenly a familiar head popped up from below the counter and smiled, he always liked Skip and was glad he was here to talk to instead of someone like that ‘Snafu’ guy. “Heeeey Babe, what’s up suga” Skip cooed in a fake country accent as he leaned on the counter. A redheaded blur came up behind him and smacked his head with a dirty dish rag. “Me and Penkala will beat your ass if you keep that up” The boy sneered before striding back to the dough table where he recognized Shifty looking a little too focused on a ball of dough. “Ah excuse my boyfriend, how can I help ya Babe?” He smiled softer when he said boyfriend, it was sweet. “Is Joe ‘round? Wanted to find out about maybe getting a job here?” Skip looked like he just won the lottery “Dude yeah I’ll go get him, wait up!” 

Babe leaned a bit over the counter to look around and decided to listen in on the phone conversations.  
“Heello, Toye’s pizza. What can I do for you tonight” Luz’s smile faltered and he suddenly looked a bit confused.  
“Um..no Richard only works week shifts he’s not in tonight, why?” A few nods to himself and started smirking.  
“Ohhh you’re Nixon aren’t you? Just ask him out already and stop calling us ok? We’ll block your number” Luz teased the man….boy maybe? Babe was a bit confused but decided he’d ask about it later. He looked to the back of the shop and saw a very enthusiastic Skip pulling a very displeased Joe toye toward the counter where Babe was standing.   
“Heard you was askin ‘bout a job eh Babe?” Joe smiled tiredly at Babe, he seemed worse for wear. Probaly from dealing with Luz and Skip for 6 hours a day. “Hey Joe, yeah I was hoping you could hook me up, if it’s not too much trouble” Please god let these puppy dog eyes work on Joe. The teen had a considering look on his face and looked him up and down. “Well you ain’t old enough to be a driver, you can’t walk five feet without tripping…well we did just loose Grant and Talbert cause they went to college out of state” The last part was mostly Joe mumbling to himself “Grant is replaced by Roe but we haven’t replaced Tab for phones and prep” Skip piped in.  
“Hm..listen come in tomorrow, I’ll talk to my dad tonight about maybe getting you on phones and prep work, come in at four and don’t be late” Joe sighed pinching his nose. Skip let out a happy giggle and clapped Babe on the shoulder “Wow Joe, that’s real nice if ya! I’ll see you guys tomorrow” Babe beamed at Skip and Joe, Luz smiled and waved at him and Perco just gave a quick nod in his direction. 

On his way out he saw a familiar truck parked on the side of the road, the door opened and a tired looking driver hopped out. “Nice to see you again, hit anyone else on your way over?” Babe smirked at the boy, he just sighed and came to lean on the truck in front of him “Nah, sadly I missed. What are you still doing here?” Babe let out a considering noise “I know the owner of the place, was asking ‘bout a job” The boys eyebrows went up slightly and he smiled warmly “You got it I’m guessing?” He was shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously; this boy was too cute to be making small talk with someone liked Babe. I mean, all he had on was a loose gray hoodie that said a hockey teams name on it and black skinny jeans with a brown work boots…he looked good is what I’m trying to say. “Yeah, I’m coming in for a shift tomorrow” Babe was turning the tiniest bit red. “Sweet, I just got off my shift. It’s pretty dark out, you need a ride home?” At first he was going to politely decline but he realized it wasn’t the best idea for him to be roaming the Philly streets at night, he gave a toothy grin “If it’s not too much of a bother”.


	2. german riddles and cinnibits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they will do anything if its not work

Babe had woken up in his clothes from yesterday, lying on his bed it took him awhile to remember what happened last night. He had finally learned cute work guy’s name on the ride home, Eugene Roe. Apparently everyone calls him Roe; Babe had made the mistake of telling him his first name was Edward. When he had walked in the door after hopping out of a very attractive boy’s car his mother, who had seen him through the window, gave him a smirk and wiggled her eyebrows. Well at least she approves right? His head was pounding from the heat engulfing his messy room but his first shift starts at 4pm, he had just woken up at the current time, 2pm. “I got some time” He mumbled to himself, he brushed his teeth before trotting down the stairs.  
After a crowded and hectic meal with the Heffron household, that included a mild interrogation about ‘That adorable boy that dropped you off last night”, most of them had left. His parents went to work and his siblings to various hangouts and daycares. It was just him and a lovely shower that was awaiting him. He grabbed his cracked phone and a towel and whistled his way to the shower. He put on his spotifiy, listening to Sitcom by Coleman Hell as he screamed the lyrics partnered with some interesting shower dance moves. He was too distracted by his ‘performance’ to notice he used his sister’s ‘Passion fruit Dream’ shampoo instead of his extremely manly head and shoulders. He only noticed after he got out and started blow drying his hair and was blasted with the scent of teenage girl fruitiness. This day was not going be a good one was it? Babe let out a giant defeated sigh which ended in him dropping the hairdryer on his foot.

Biking to work he felt pretty confident, he knew not to dress up and honestly he was okay with that. He decided on the same pair of jeans but a dark colour this time, it’s called style look it up, he wore it with a black t-shirt and decided to spice things up with his red converse. He put his black snapback on backwards because once again, he has swag, shut the fuck up Julian. He parked his bike at the back of the shop and went in through the creaky ass door. “BABE YOU’RE HERE, PLEASE HELP WITH THIS GERMAN RIDDLE LIEB TOLD US” Luz and Skip all but blew his eardrums out. He shoved off Luz who was shaking him but let Skip wrap his arms around his waist and forced Babe to just drag his dead weight through the door. Babe peaked around the corner and saw Shifty kneading the dough, looking shell shocked and just mumbling to himself “but why the phone, who’s on the phone” Joe was washing the dishes in the back just laughing hysterically and he could see Hoobler cutting lettuce and letting out angry noises. Penkala was taking the pizzas out of the oven and just waved at Babe and smiled “Ok, so this is all about a riddle?” Babe sighed as he turned to look down at Skip who seemed to like getting dragged around like this. “YES Joe told us it and we caNT FIGURE IT ooouuut” He whined as he let go off Babe and slid to the floor, “What’s the riddle? I can help”.

Joe Toye came back from a grocery store to see his store in utter chaos. Hoobler was chopping vegetables liked they insulted his mother; Skip was lying on the floor basically sobbing into his hands. Luz was the only one answering phones, though he looked quite teary eyed, as Babe was desperately trying to comfort the crying boy on the floor while looking quite traumatized himself. Penkala was the only one doing any actual work and Shifty was just staring wide eyed at the pizza dough. “OKAY WHAT THE FUCK GUYS” Joe screamed at a desperate attempt to get them back to work.   
Babe immediately stood up and looks extremely bashful as his entire face went red; Skip remained on the floor but tilted his head to see Toye. Before any of the other boys could even acknowledge him Liebgott came strutting through the door with an empty pizza sleeve and a shit eating grin. “You assholes figured it out I’m guessing? Oh hey Toye, what’s up?” Toye turned towards him with absolute fury written on his face. “Explain. Now” Joe just smiled and patted his shoulder. “I told them a German riddle see? Basically it goes like this. A man holds a cell phone on a 20 story building and jumps, halfway down the phone rings and causes the man to scream ‘I don’t want to die’ and you have to figure out why.” “So what’s the answer” Joe asks and Luz ends his order and turns to Toye. “It took us two hours but we figured it out. He’s the last person on earth, so he jumps because being alone fucking sucks, but then the phone rings meaning someone else is still alive.” Luz responds. Toye sighed and walked around to the other side of the counters to where Babe and Skip were. “Wait…who smells like passion fruit?”

After everyone recovered from previous events Skip started to show Babe how to answer the phones and take orders. “Ok so you answer with a ‘hello this is Toye’s Pizza, how may I help you tonight?” Babe nodded. “Then you take their order like this, so each size you mark with an s, m or L and then you write what they want on that pizza next to it okay?” Luz turned from where he was giving Joe more change, “don’t forget, you always say ‘may I have a phone number and addresses for deliveries and a name and phone number for pickup” Skip nodded at Luz and turned back to Babe “He’s better at this then me, I mostly do till.” He admits. “We’ll do some test phone calls on your next shift but here, I’ll show you all the cheat sheets” Skip reached to the other side of the counter and placed some laminated sheets and highlighters in front of Babe. “Alright so, the green highlighter you use to highlight the words thin crust and fresh tomatoes, always put thin crust at the top cause shifty needs to know that first” Babe nodded and saw shifty nodding furiously in the background. “Next the yellow highlighter is our main one, when people want extra or none of a toping we use this. Also highlight cinnabit orders with this.” Babe gave him a confused look “What are cinnibits?” Everyone around him just stopped and stared. Luz closed the till and looked over at him with pure disbelieve. “You mean you’ve never ordered cinnibits before, like at all?” Babe was still confused to as why this was such a crazy idea. Penkala sighed and took a circular tin out of the oven. He waved Babe over and took a ladle out of a warming pot; he lifted it with some sort of sauce in the utensil before dumping it in the tin. The tin had what looked like a bunch of dough balls that had expanded and molded together in the oven. He then grabbed a squeeze bottle of icing and crisscrossed it all over the dough balls. It smelt like heaven. “That’s cinnibits” He sighed and then turned to the rest of them. “Will you all, for the love of Christ, get back to work.” 

After they had closed up, Shifty made Babe a batch of cinnibits for him, Penkala, Skip and malarkey to share when Malarkey came to pick them up. They sat on the curb like a bunch of children, making weird moaning noises from the delicious treat in the dark in front the shop. When Malarkey pulled up in his beat up truck, what was it with people and trucks around here, before even saying hello to his boyfriends he started staring at Babe. “Are those cinnibits?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> toye really shouldn't leave them alone lets be honest


	3. Horror movies and stereotypes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> manly slumber party

Toye decided that he couldn’t take all summer to train Babe, he had only worked three shifts but they were all weekday shifts, meaning less to do. He didn’t want to freak the kid out but that’s how he had trained everyone else, except for Shifty cause he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Skip called it the three deadly days; it was the Thursday, Friday and Saturday night shifts. They always got a shit ton of tips but sometimes they needed to disconnect the phones just to keep up with all the other orders, it was extremely stressful if you were new. Everyone knew it was coming, except for Babe.

Babe had been working at Toye’s for about two weeks; he felt pretty confident in handling the phones and was getting better at the food prep. He enjoyed the phones because he loved talking to people, but the food prep was in the back of the shop near the dish sink. Drivers got all the worst jobs because they got the most tips which they didn’t have to share; whenever they weren’t making a delivery they washed the dishes in the “pit”. So when Babe would do food prep he’d usually get to talk to Roe. They shared the same shifts because Roe replaced Grant and he replaced Talbert. Roe was pretty quiet and looked a bit out of place in the sea of loud assholes that was Skip, Luz and Joe Liebgott. Sometimes Babe would hear him mumbling to himself in French, he found out he was a Cajun from Louisiana but he had no clue why he had moved here of all places. Julian was convinced Babe liked ‘this Roe guy’ and would tease him every time he stepped foot into Julian’s room.   
“I’m just saying, the guy has got a sweet ass, nice truck and can speak French in a deep sexy accent. What more do you want?” Babe sighed as he threw his bag on Julian’s bed and then threw himself face first to be dramatic. Julian sat down on the floor and munched on a bag of chips extremely obnoxiously, he had a giant smirk plastered on his face like usual. Babe flipped onto his back and then rolled onto his side facing Julian so he could glare at him. Julian was an only child so everyone always hung out at his house since both his parents worked. He defiantly wasn’t spoiled rotten but the rest of his friends, especially Babe and Bill, all had huge families. So having a bathroom to himself was heavenly. His room was stacked to the brim; his walls were covered in posters and decorated in memorabilia. They were letters from his cousins pined up in different places, pictures of Babe, Julian, Spina and Bill stuck with thumbtacks and tape. As much as he loved all his friends, Julian was special. They just had a connection and they didn’t have many boundaries between the two. But the boy was also one of the only people he was out too, Julian was bisexual and he be damned if he let anyone forget it.  
Julian returned Babe’s snarl with a giant smile. “Look, Babe, if you don’t bang that guy like a door in a hurricane I’m gonna have to bounce on that” He said as he stuffed more chips in his mouth. “First of all Julian, his standards aren’t that low and second let me live okay? I don’t have to bounce on everyone that’s somewhat attractive, unlike you. You are one giant stereotype you know that right?” Julian just shrugged at that comment. “Besides, neither of us have ever been on a date OR kissed anyone so there’s that” Babe continued and Julian just frowned at him and sighed, falling onto his back, and laying spread eagle on the floor. “Didn’t have to cut that deep dude”

The sound of ACDC sounded from babe’s hoodie pocket and the contact name ‘Boy Toye’ with an icon of Joe flipping off the camera showed up on the screen. “Hey Joe what’s up?” Babe gave Julian a warning look when he wiggled his eyebrows; Julian just threw a chip at him. Babe put the phone on speaker and started looking through the DVD sets Julian had put on the bed so they could watch a movie. “Hey Babe, I need you to come in for your first triple shift this Thursday to Saturday. Malarkey decided he wanted to take Penkala and Skip on an ‘authentic camping experience’.” Babe shook his head at that and dangled Indiana Jones in front of Julian’s face, the boy mouthed ‘nope’. “Toye we both know malarkey is going to end up hurting himself and Skip is gonna get lost” He could hear Joe sigh on the other side of the call. “Yeah I know but I didn’t feel like talking them out of it. I’ll see you tomorrow; I have to go before- THE FUCK DID I SAY LUZ! NO PUT PERCONTE DOW-“and the line went dead.   
After a solid half an hour of debate on what to watch they decided on the conjuring. Julian’s TV was set up across from his bed and they curled up in blankets and pillows. Julian was on his phone checking Instagram when a rock hit his window from the outside, Babe screeched like a banshee and Julian jumped about three feet in the air. They both looked at each other in confusion and fear before it happened again. They walked over to the window very slowly as Babe clutched a bat he had grabbed somewhere in the room, and opened it to check outside. Looking down they saw a teenage boy, about Julian’s age waving at them from the front yard in a white t-shirt and checkered pajama pants. Judging by the handful of rocks he wasn’t expecting them to be awake. “Skinny what the hell is a dame like you doing on a lawn like mine at this hour?” Julian yelled down. “I’ll tell you when you let me in hot stuff…why does the redhead have a bat?”   
When Babe and Julian started jogging down the steps Babe grabbed Julian by his shirt. “Care to explain ‘hot stuff’?” Julian just smiled. “Don’t worry, he just comes over some nights. Likes to show up and scare the shit out of me” Julian blushed slightly and Babe just laughed “Awe do you have a crush Jules?” Julian turned bright red and jumped to the bottom of the stairs to open the door.  
Skinny was sitting cross legged in front of the door; he looked up at them and smiled. “Hey Julian, you look kind of red there buddy” Babe laughed at that and Julian just groaned before turning and walking back to his room. Skinny then turned his attention to Babe and tilted his head like a confused puppy. “Who are you” he asked, looking Babe up and down as to judge what him and Julian’s relationship was. “I’m Babe, nice to meet you” He replied as he held his hand out for Skinny; the boy grabbed it and stood up. “Oh you’re Babe? I’ve heard all ‘bout you, Julian’s always talking about you. Same with the guys at the pizza place.” He smiled at him and he moved over to let Skinny in the door.   
-  
Babe woke up the next morning face first on the carpet of Julian’s room; he must have been shoved off by Julian at some point in the night. Skinny had snuggled in behind Julian and the wall and was basically draped over him. They suddenly looked so much younger; Babe forgets sometimes that Jules is only going into grade 9 this year. He stopped staring at them when he saw Skinny shift and let out a yawn. He opened his eyes and smiled at Babe. “Sorry for interrupting your guy’s slumber party last night.” He mumbled and cuddled a bit closer to the sleeping teen next to him. “Its fine, Jules seems to like you.” Babe arched an eyebrow in a questioning way at skinny. “Nah he wouldn’t like some skinny prick like me.” Babe just huffed a laugh, “Whatever you say, I gotta head to work make sure Julian doesn’t forget to take his medication.” Skinny nodded and closed his eyes to sleep.  
Babe had biked to Julian’s house so the ride home wasn’t very long; he took a shower to wash off the smell of popcorn and the axe bomb Julian had thrown at him. He put on his white ‘junior league hockey’ shirt on and black jeans, he was gonna keep it as simple as possible. He shoved his headphones in and started walking to Toye’s.  
The pizza place officially opened at 4pm and since he wasn’t doing prep today that’s also when he showed up. He walked in and opened his mouth to greet everyone when someone slammed into him and sent him flying. Looking up he saw Eugene Roe laughing at him. “We have to stop meeting like this Edward! Now move your ass cher, I gotta deliver this” he said as he stepped over him and bolted out the door, pizza boxes and keys in hand. He looked up to see the store in a blur of movement. Hoobler was dicing and stirring sauce at the same time, the phones were ringing off their hooks. Joe Liebgott looked up from the dish pit and smiled.   
“Welcome to hell”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love julian to death so expect more of him, also i cant decide on shifty / skinny or julian / skinny ?? h elp?


	4. the first day of hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skinny is a sweetheart and Eugene roe is a filthy pizza thief

Babe decided, as he was washing his hands next to Lieb, that this must be a Toye haze ritual. It was hectic but everyone seemed to know exactly what they were doing except for him, there were a lot of new faces as well. There was a redheaded teen; he looked to be about 18, was ordering people around like he was 30. Over by the driver bag pickup and drop off was another older boy with pitch black hair and an annoyed look on his face as he looked at his order list.  
Babe jogged over to the front with the phones where Perconte was writing down orders and Luz was handling check out. “Are we the only ones on phones today frank?” The boy shook his head and someone behind him spoke up. “Hi, you must be Edward. I’m Richard Winters, nice to meet you.” He turned around to see the redheaded boy he saw earlier smiling at him. He was extremely put together, not a hair out of place. “Yeah I’m Edward but please, call me Babe.” He smiled back at that and nodded before walking over to his phone area. 

After taking a few calls Babe went into the back to get a slice of the staff pizza, they didn’t have break times so they were allowed to go in the back and eat. He got to choose the pizza tonight and decided on meat lovers, it was one of their best pizzas. There were a lot of drivers today and he hadn’t expected to see Gene much till he came strolling up to Babe and took the pizza out of his hand. He was too shocked to speak; all the dirty thief did was wiggle his eyebrows as he took a bite. “Gene, the light of my life, what the fuck do you think you are doing?” Babe glared at the boy as he snatched brand new piece out of the box. If it had been anyone else Babe would have stabbed them. “Taste’s better when it’s stolen, Edward. How’s your shift going” Gene’s smile was so sweet, his pale skin had a touch of sun and made his cheeks flushed and his eyelashes fluttered as he looked up at Babe through them. “Better now you’re here. Did talk to one guy who wanted Joe to be his driver, when I said I didn’t know if I could do that he just assumed I was new” He shook his head, Roe’s eyebrows showed his confusion. “What was his name?” Hoobler had popped his head around the corner from where he was chopping salami. “David Webster…why?” Hoobler’s entire face lit up and he screamed “Code Webster!” He was loud enough that everyone in the streets could hear him. Everyone started looking at each other in pure glee while Babe and Gene just shared a look of confusion. Hoobler ran over to where shifty was kneading the dough and snatched the order form for ‘DAVID WEBSTER’ Babe had highlighted in pink ‘Joe as driver??’ at the top. The order was just a medium house special and a coke. Hoobler smiled like the cat that caught the canary. He turned to shifty and kissed him on the cheek, making the boy go bright red.  
“Make sure you make this one special Shifts, Joe might just throw a hissy fit and throw it at the guy” Speak of the devil, Joe came in the door, in all his skinny glory. Everyone went silent and stared at him, waiting. Hoobler walked up to the confused teen and waved the order in front of his face as realization dawned on Lieb’s features. He turned bright red and snatched the order from Hoob. “I AM NOT GOING AGAIN! HE DOES THE SAME THING EVERYTIME AND I REFUSE TO BE LURED INTO THIS AGAIN YOU PRICKS” He screamed before shoving the order form into Hoob’s chest and stalking to the dish pit. “I have so many questions” Babe mumbled to Roe and the boy agreed as he munched on his pizza.

At about 8:30 there was a lull in the orders and Babe and Luz were leaning against the counter drinking pop. Babe turned to Luz “So…George? Who is this Web guy and why does Joe freak out about it?” Luz took a sip of his coke and lowered it to reveal a smirk. “Tell you what Babe, I’ll tell you about that if you tell me about your little crush on Doc” It took Babe a second to realize he was talking about Gene; he never really used the nickname himself. It had stuck after Roe patched Babe up a few too many times, he was defiantly getting at least one injury per shift here. And not because every time Gene bandaged him up he’d kiss it. He groaned and decided to just play along at Luz’s little game. “Fine George, I will. Now start at the beginning”. Luz and frank had been working here the longest because of their friendship with Joe and there were few employees at the start. It used to only be him, frank, Hoobler, shifty, winters and a boy named Cobb. Their first new employee was Joe Liebgott, his first two years were the same work as Babe and then he became a driver last year. One day a boy called in, it was a slow day so Luz and him chatted for a bit. The boy’s name was David Webster and his parents had gone to dinner and left him with a 50$ bill for food. He was only fifteen at the time; Joe had just turned 16 and was on his first driving shift. Luz told him he’d send the prettiest driver they had, so he sent Joe. A half hour later Joe came back red in the face with a handful of tips complaining about the rich boy who called him pretty and gave him a 30$ tip. Ever since Webster would call in every once in awhile, order the same thing and request the same driver. It started as a crush but now it’s out of spite, but according to Luz ‘They’re in love and just want an excuse to see each other Babe’. Once Luz was done with the animated retelling of the Webster and Liebgott love story he set down his empty coke. He turned to Babe and leant an elbow on the table; he smiled like a little devil and wiggled his eyebrows to urge Babe to reveal his deepest darkest secrets. As if heaven was shining down on him, as soon as he opened his mouth to speak both the phones started ringing. Luz’s head fell and he mumbled “This ain’t over Romeo” He paused and pointed a finger at Babe “No gossip gets past me.” Babe just smiled at him and reached for the phone. “Hello Toye’s pizza, how can I help you tonight?” He greeted in a sweet voice and fluttered his eyelashes at Luz “Hey Babe, its Skinny! Didn’t know you were working tonight” Babe laughed, of course he got Skinny. “Well I am, now order something or ill hang up on you Sisk” The boy on the other line scoffed “I’ll have you know that I am a regular at your fine establishment, don’t make me call Toye and get you fired!” Babe sighed and just urged him to put in his order; by the time he was done he had filled the entire order sheet. “Skinny I didn’t know you were having a party” Skinny laughed a little bit too hard and just said ‘I’ll come pick it up, alright babe?’

A half an hour later Skinny came waltzing through the door to the delight of everyone. He was welcomed with a chorus of ‘Back at it again’ ‘we missed you’ and ‘see you keeping the weight off Sisk’ Skinny walked behind the counter and over to Shifty who was very focused on a veggie supreme. Skinny just tapped him on the shoulder and the boy turned around, he let out a happy giggle and launched himself onto the smaller teen. Babe had never seen this side of Shifty Powers; he was usually quite shy and kept to himself. Everyone adored him but he was a bit nervous under attention, except for right now. Luz scooted closer to Babe and knocked his elbow against Babe’s side “its sweet ain’t it; those two absolutely adore each other.” Babe nodded, it was quite adorable how Skinny listened as shifty showed him his tricks of the trade. “By the way, no one ever told me why he’s called Skinny.” Luz smirked “Well we actually gave it to him, he comes in and orders tons of food, usually for himself and never gains a pound. The drivers love him as well because he tips well, comes from wealth but doesn’t flaunt it unless it’s for food. Shifty cried once cause he messed up Skinny’s order” Luz laughed and Babe went to grab the last of Skinny’s order, Luz asked to see his form as he handed the boxes and bags to Skinny’s awaiting arms. He read Babe’s writing and his eyebrows went up “Dude this is more than you usually get, what’s the occasion?” Skinny’s smiled reached his eyes “well you see, since Babe has been doing such an amazing job here that I decided to treat all of you after your shift. Come by my place after work, I’m thinking horror movies and an extremely manly slumber party” He announced to the staff and everyone suddenly wanted to get off shift as fast as possible.

As soon as the clock struck 10:30 all hell broke loose, Joe was washing dishes at the speed of light while everyone started throwing on Jackets and grabbing their phones. A lot of the boys usually walked home but Skinny lived too far to walk, so the drivers got to choose who to take. The dark haired boy who Babe had noticed earlier didn’t have a car or a truck but rather a motorbike. Luz very happily hopped on the back despite the annoyance of the driver. Joe took 4 people, Hoobler, winters, Frank and Toye. Roe was left with Shifty and Babe, which was heaven compared to what he could have had. Babe got shotgun and then immediately got in the back when Roe gave him an annoyed ‘you ain’t being unsafe in my truck Edward’ look.  
As the old truck turned onto the main road Babe turned to Shifty and pulled out the boys headphones. He gave him a confused look and raised an eyebrow. “So, what’s with you and Skinny?” Shifty smiled at Babe and turned towards him. “Well when I first got hired I was not confident what so ever, I was always scared people didn’t like my pizzas. There was this guy that used to yell at me whenever I made his order, freaked me right out. I mean I was only 14 so it was like the end of the world for me.” Shifty started ringing his hands so Babe took one of them in his own, which seemed to calm the boy down. In the mirror he could see Roe smile at him. “So one day this tiny little 13yr old comes in, orders a small house special and a sprite. He sits in the shop and waits for his order, unlike most people. When I take it out and give it to him he asks me to sit with him” Babe didn’t know if that was allowed, but it was a cute story and Toye was always lax with rules when it came to Shifty. “So I sit with him and he shares the pizza with me, he asks if I made it and I said yes. He was so happy with it he promised to come in every week and order from me cause I was the best pizza maker he’s ever met” Shifty had a huge grin on his face. “Shifty, that is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard in my life” Babe responded and Roe agreed from the front of the car.

They were the last to arrive at Skinny’s house, it was farther out from the city so they had their own property, it was big for sure but it wasn’t one of those house that just screamed ‘I’m better than you’. Gene parked farther up the driveway near Joe’s beaten up jeep and Babe shook Shifty awake, he had curled up and past out on Babe’s shoulder. They headed up towards the door, there was a bright pink sticky note that read ‘THE DOORS OPEN, WE ARE IN THE BACK OF THE HOUSE ;)’ Roe shrugged at Babe and pushed the door open, inside there was a smaller room that stretched upwards to the top floors. In the corner were piles of shoes so they all added theirs to the pile. There were three openings to different rooms and a staircase that winded up, they went through the one in front of them and kept going till they found the back of the house. As soon as they opened the sliding glass there was music, Babe was hit with the lyrics of Sirens by hydrogen child and the smell of warm pizza. There was a large pool with crystal clear water and a giant projector screen set up behind it. To the side of them was a large lounge area filled with couches and pillows. The food had been laid out on a large table to the other side of them. Luz was currently shoving his face full of chips with Perconte at the food table; everyone else had grabbed their food and seated themselves somewhere in the lounge area.  
Babe walked over to Skinny who was currently stuffing as many cinnibits in his face as he could. “Dude this is so cool, I can’t believe you live here.” Skinny swallowed and smiled at Babe “Yeah, both my parents work their asses off. My mom’s an amazing lawyer and my dad owns a construction company” He replied, he obviously liked his parents and Babe was glad he didn’t turn out spoilt. “Oh and by the way I invited Julian, hope that’s okay.” Babe nodded and his phone started buzzing in his pocket. The contact name ‘JULES’ with a photo of him and Julian popped up. “Okay so Skinny invited me to your party and I have nothing to wear” Babe laughed at the panic in Julian’s voice, he always got a bit nervous about parties until he actually got to them. Then he was dancing on tables and trying to make out with furniture. Skinny was now distracted by Joe and Hoobler who were trying to challenge him to a jello shot competition, but Babe walked a little farther away so no one could listen to his conversation. “Well you know that muscle shirt you got? Wear that and your black swim shorts; throw a hoodie over that it might get cold. Actually can you grab me a pair as well, oh and towels.” Babe finished, he really wanted to get into that pool. “Okay…why swim shorts?” Babe turned to see that Skinny, Luz and Perconte had shed everything but their boxers and jumped into the pool. Luz was holding Frank’s head under water. “Just bring them Jules, trust me” Babe hadn’t noticed Gene come up next to him, he turned and jumped a bit. Gene smiled at him and offered Babe a coke, he took it and like a godamn movie their fingers brushed. He just stood there enjoying Gene’s quite presence before his phone started buzzing in his pocket with a text from Julian. It read ‘Babe I’m 15. I don’t have a fucking car’


	5. bandaids and underwater kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party continues

Roe was thankfully sober, unlike some of the other workers, and agreed to go pick up Julian with Babe. Skinny offered to come with them but George told him he needed him for something and winked at Babe as they left, which just earned him the middle finger. At least this time he was allowed to sit in the front. It was now dark out and going down the wooded roads around Skinny’s house sent shivers down his spine. Roe had his eyes focused on the road, his skin was a little flushed and he had a hint of a smile. He had his lifeguard hoodie on and it was a bit big so he rolled the sleeves up; he looked so easy to cuddle right now. If he was being honest with himself he had been too busy to actually think that much about Gene. He didn’t know him extremely well, they got along and Gene would always sneak him smiles when no one was looking. And Babe could not deny he kinda liked the boy as more than a friend, but he wasn’t ready to deal with that right now. He had just started at his first Job and summer wasn’t going to last forever, he was gonna need to deal with grade 10 at some point. As much as he enjoyed the silence he’d rather focus on the sweet sounds of the black keys than trying to sneak glances at Gene every three seconds. “Hey Gene, do you mind if I play some music?” His eyebrows knitted together but he handed Babe the aux cord. The vocals for ‘Howling for you’ blasted through the radio and Gene giggled when Babe started singing along. He just melted at the sound.

When they pulled into Julian’s driveway Babe sent a text to him saying to hurry up. Babe turned to Roe and found he was already looking at him. “Hey Gene, I never asked but why did you move here of all places” Gene sighed and leant his arms on the steering wheel. “Well I moved here with my friend Meriell Shelton, we both attend a boarding school here. His home life was bad, so he wanted to move out here because it has a good trades program, and I wouldn’t let him go alone. You might have met him; he works at the Pacific grill up the street from us.” Babe’s face went red at the last part “What he do to you Edward” Roe sighed; he could guess Shelton had a track record. Babe explained his personal experience with the boy. Gene asked if it was before or after Gene and Babe met and he replied with after, “Hm yeah that makes sense, he has mentioned a boy he calls sledge. That boy has a weird thing about redheads” He mumbled, almost as if Babe wasn’t supposed to hear. Before Babe could ask more about Gene’s strange friend Julian came bounding out of the house and jumped into the car. “Sorry I’m late, there was a giant spider in the doorway” Babe pinched the bridge of his nose and Gene just let out a small laugh. “Gene this is John Julian, Julian this is Eugene Roe” Julian’s eyes light up and he stuck his head in between the front seats, right in Gene’s personal space. “Holy shit! You’re Gene, god you’re even prettier in person, might I say you have the most amazing accent and Babe’s total-“ Babe slammed his foot on the gas for a split second, just enough to startle Gene and sent Julian flying forward an bang his head on the radio. “Fuck Babe that was mean! My head hurts” Julian whined as he slunked back to his seat. Babe didn’t meet Gene’s annoyed look and just smiled to himself, Julian was not gonna ruin this for him.

When they arrived back at the house Babe let out a relived sigh, at least now Julian will be distracted with Skinny. They hopped out of the truck and when Babe started walking to the front door he felt someone grab the back of his shirt and pull him another direction. “Skinny texted me saying he locked the front door so we gotta go through the gate.” Gene was following behind them, Babe smacked Julian’s hand and the boy finally let go. The gate, unlike their previous entrance, actually leads straight to the pool. They walked into the pool area and almost everyone except for the dark haired driver; winters and Toye were in the pool. As soon as Skinny got sight of Julian he pushed himself out of the water and started running towards them in only his bright red boxers, which currently matched the colour of Julian’s face. As if in slow motion, Skinny realized his mistake as he lost his footing on the wet pavement and fell directly on his face. “Holy shit Wayne!” Julian yelled as he started running towards the teen. He had never heard someone use Skinny’s actual name before. Babe could see Shifty jump out of the pool and jog over, making sure he didn’t suffer the same fate. Gene had disappeared somehow. Babe walked over and leant down near Skinny. He still hadn’t moved and was groaning quite a bit, Shifty was three sheets of the wind in worry and Julian was coming out with every swear in the book. Some of the other boys tried to get out of the pool and help but Winter’s told them to ‘leave it be, Gene went to grab his emergency medical kit’. Sure enough, Gene came running up to them with his first aid kit. “Hey Skinny, I know It’s probably gonna hurt but I’m gonna roll you over real quick alright?” Skinny just groaned in response, Babe saw blood was starting to pool underneath the boy. When gene flipped him over Skinny’s face was covered in blood, he had broken his lip open and broken his nose. “Does anyone know if he’s been drinking alcohol? There shouldn’t be this much blood” Gene drawled, his accent was thicker as his temper flared. Shifty let out a groan of realization. “Lieb and Hoobler gave him like way too many jello shots, y’know the ones they soaked in vodka” Gene let out an annoyed huff and glared at Hoobler and Joe. “He shouldn’t be drinking, even if its jello shots. He’s only fifteen. His blood is thinned out, stopping the blood is gonna be harder.” Roe said sternly as he started to try and wipe the blood off. “Is alright doc, just a couple band aids and I’ll be good” Skinny drawled. “You are such an idiot Skinny Sisk” Julian mumbled and Shifty nodded his head. The boy started reaching into his pocket and brought out his phone, he opened it and clicked something. The opening chords of ‘mm watcha say’ came blasting through his phone.

After they had patched Skinny up he had wanted to go back in the water but he would have been tackled by Shifty, Julian and Roe before that happened. Gene had made sure he was drinking a lot of water to offset the vodka; he didn’t want any more stumbles. “Hey Babe I brought you those swim trunks” Babe and Julian had gone into the house to change into bathing shorts and had almost gotten lost twice before they found a bathroom. Julian yelled at him from the bathroom he was changing in, he opened the door a tiny bit and stuck his hand out, he was holding a pair of bright pink swim shorts. “…well its better then my underwear I guess”.

Out came Babe Heffron in bright pink swim shorts. Luz and Perconte just burst into a laughing fit while a lot of people tried not to choke. “Edward” Gene began, he looked quite pink himself. Gene hadn’t brought a swimsuit either and was currently sitting on the side of the pool in nothing but black boxer briefs, god help him now “Yeah yeah I know just shut up already” He huffed before diving into the pool with the rest of them, hoping to avoid any embarrassing body parts showing up from looking at Gene. When he resurfaced he waded over to Skinny who was sitting with his feet in the water, Babe propped his elbows up on the side of the pool and skinny smiled down at him. His face was covered in my little pony and frozen band aids “You gonna be alright there Sisk, that was quite a fall. How you gonna get any guys with your face all fucked up?” Skinny looked at Babe completely deadpan “I’ll get guys with my huge dick” They both just stared at each other before Babe snorted and they both burst into laughter. Suddenly the other boy stopped laughing and stared behind Babe, he turned to see what had got Skinny’s attention and Saw Julian standing in the pair of Swim trunks Babe had gotten him for his birthday. They were a pastel blue and had white diamonds all over them, they were meant to be a joke relating to Julian’s nickname ‘Jules’. Julian walked over to the edge of the pool and stared down into the crystal clear water. Babe looked back over to Skinny and the boy had an absolute love struck look on his face, he had a huge dopey smile and his eyes were almost glazed over. Babe giggled and nudged him, which did nothing. This was the first time a lot of the boys had met Julian but they all seemed to like him, Julian wasn’t like Luz who was everyone’s favourite person but he generally got along with everyone. But he was defiantly someone’s favourite person.  
Gene hopped back into the pool and swam to the middle, about 10ft away from where Julian was standing on the side. “I bet you 10$ you can’t make it all the way to Gene Jules” Babe yelled over to his friend. His face lit up and before the poor driver could move Julian had launched himself on top of the other boy. Gene resurfaced with a gasp and started swimming directly for Babe. “What no! I’m innocent! Let me live! I’m too young to die!” Babe started shrieking while he desperately tried to swim to the other side of the pool to avoid getting squashed. Gene excited the pool and started running before cannonballing directly onto Babe. He came down so hard that he sent both him and Babe to the bottom of the pool. Babe opened his eyes underwater and could see Roe doing the same. God his eyes looked beautiful underwater, like a mermaid. Babe puffed his cheeks out like a fish and pretended his hands were gills as he started waving them on either side of his face. Gene smiled and swam towards Babe and very gently pressed his lips to Babe’s before going to the surface for air. Babe sucked in a breath of water and realized he didn’t have any air left. He broke the water and started hacking out the water he swallowed. He turned to see Gene had joined Skinny on the side of the pool; he gave babe a knowing smirk. “ALRIGHT NO MORE POOL! NO MORE” Liebgott screeched as Hoobler tried to rip him from the safety of the side of the pool into the water.

After everyone dried off they started building a little nest in the seating area. Luz and Perconte had taken one of the love seats, Luz was sitting cross legged and Perconte had sat himself right in the middle. Luz had his face snuggled into Frank’s hair as said boy typed on his phone. Richard and the dark haired driver he now knew as Ronald Speirs were leaning against the side of the loveseat chatting. Joe was sitting with his legs out and Hoobler had draped himself across them as they talked about some summer camp dream Joe had. Shifty had gone into the kitchen to make popcorn, as if anyone could eat more. Gene was sitting against the glass door with a big blanket draped over him, Babe walked over and plopped down next to him. He couldn’t stop thinking about Gene kissing him underwater, every time it popped into his head he would just start to burn a bit. He wished it wasn’t under water; he couldn’t taste anything other than chlorine. Skinny had taken Julian upstairs to get the movie and they were taking quite a while. Julian walked out of the house first, only Babe noticed his hair was a bit ruffled and he had a dreamy look on his face. He grabbed his arm and pulled him down to sit with Babe and Gene. Julian scooted closer to Babe, and he wrapped the blanket over him. A few minutes later Skinny came out holding two different movies in each hand, one was the conjuring and the other was sinister. “Okay, to be fair let’s take a vote. Hands up for ’The conjuring’” Everyone but Joe Liebgott put their hands up. “Awe fuck you guys, you just know sinister is scarier” No one exactly argued with that. “Sorry Joe, this is a democracy” Skinny smiled at him and put the disk in, the opening for the movie started playing on the projector screen. Once he had turned off all the pool lights he went and sat with Julian, Babe and Gene. Unlike the people surrounding him, Babe had seen this movie before, so he knew when the first jump scare would come up. It wasn’t that scary but it did make you do a bit of a hop in your seat. As soon as it happened he felt Gene tense on one side of him, Julian grab his shirt sleeve and heard Skinny giggle. He expected those reactions; he didn’t expect the shriek of terror Shifty made as he had walked back into the lounge space with bags of popcorns balanced on his arms, right when the jump scare happened. Popcorn had gone everywhere and Shifty looked extremely guilty “Sorry guys, I’m not good with horror movies” He laughed nervously as everyone stared at the now popcorn covered Hoobler and Joe.

Even after Winter’s had insisted they help clean up the popcorn Skinny told them not to worry about it, he’d do it in the morning. They had just finished the Movie and now only Gene and Babe were awake, well half awake at least. Julian and Skinny were currently lying down on a bunch of the pillows, Julian had basically koala hugged the other boy in his sleep. Luz and Frank were in the same position as before, Luz had fallen asleep on Perconte’s head and was most likely drooling. Hoobler was sleeping with his head on Joe’s legs; he didn’t know how that could be comfortable. Spiers, Toye and Winters all left to sleep in their own beds because they were ‘Old men who don’t know how to *yawn* have fun’ according to Skinny. “Gene?” Babe whispered to the boy next to him, he heard him mumble to himself. “Yes Edward?” He shifted so he was lying on his back, “Why did you-“He was interrupted by the sound of Gene’s soft ringtone. They both swore at the noise, the boy checked to see who was calling him. Of course, the only person who would call him this late is Snafu. “What could you possibly want at this hour Meriell” Gene hissed into the phone. Babe couldn’t hear much of the conversation as he slipped into sleep. Just bits and pieces and something about a boy name Eugene Sledge.

Babe woke up alone on the Skinny’s patio floor. He looked around confused and he could feel his heart beating a little faster. He calmed down when he caught a whiff of what he could only assume was breakfast. He stretched, trying to crack his sore back, and let out a yawn. He had slept in his boxers and…oh. He took in the morning view, the popcorn was still scattered everywhere and there were few articles of clothes forgotten in strange places. Last night was really fun, especially the Gene kissing him part which he was pretty sure wasn’t a dream. He opened the glass door and walked down the hallway into the kitchen. This kitchen was pretty big; it was more spacey than anything. There was an island in the middle and there were counters and kitchen appliances surrounding it, attached to the wall. Julian was currently sitting on the island, Skinny stood in-between his legs and was having him taste the pancake batter he was mixing. Luz and Hoobler were taking turns spraying the whipped into their mouths while frank had his head stuck in the fridge. Joe was frying eggs, boasting about ‘what a great chef he is’ and Shifty was standing next to him in horror of the burning eggs. Babe assumed Gene had left, which made him a bit sad but also concerned with how he was gonna get home.  
“Hey sleeping beauty, glad you came to join the living again” Luz smiled at Babe with a mouthful of whip cream. Julian now also took notice to Babe and smiled sheepishly at him. “Sorry I didn’t wake you up, you looked so peaceful this morning” Skinny nodded as he put batter on Julian’s nose. “Mornin Edward, glad to see- is that my hoodie” The tired drawl in his accent took him off guard, fuck it was hot. Babe saw Gene’s head pop up from where he was hidden by the island, holding a box of Fruit loops in his hand. Be cool Babe be cool “Well it got cold last night and I thought I’d grabbed my hoodie because it was so dark” He blurted out. That was a lie, he was half asleep and Gene’s sweater smelt amazing so he might have put it on. It was his lifeguard hoodie; Babe loves it when he wears it because the contrast of Gene’s pale skin and the red hoodie is just amazing. It looks a bit odd with his red hair though. “S’fine, Looks good” He mumbled before ripping the Fruit loops box open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do you write romance?? you tell me. But yeah im gonna try to focus more on Babe and Gene soon cause rn Skinny anf Julian are the power couple which is sad


	6. breakfast and photography

Shifty had made everyone breakfast after Joe managed to burn the eggs, set off the fire alarm, and had almost broken Luz’s nose for taking a video of it. They had no clue how to turn the beeping off so eating in the house wasn’t an option. After awhile Gene had managed to shut it up but everyone was quite happy sitting out in the daylight. They sprawled out in the lounge area watching the sun inch its way into the sky. Joe was munching on his English muffin grumpily; Hoobler looked a bit humoured by this, he was probably used to Joe’s cooking. Babe was glad Shifty got so much joy out of making food, he had made Babe an omelette and he nearly bit Julian’s finger of when he tried to steal a bite. Shifty was by no means a house wife type, he had a mouth on him and was quite outgoing when he wanted to be but damn, the boy could cook.  
Babe was enjoying the feeling of the cool glass behind him as his breakfast almost melted in his mouth, it felt nice on his bare back now that the air was getting thick with heat. The weather forced him to change back into his swim shorts again, he was gonna enjoy the pool while it was available anyway. Of course he was most likely welcome back at Wayne’s; it wasn’t likely Julian would want him there. Most of the boys he worked and went to school with were from low income families, which was a big reason they had been working most of high school. The Sisk’s and the Webster’s were the only rich family’s Babe could name, there was another family that moved from Mobile that was really well off but they had the strangest last name. Babe knew Gene and Snafu were here on the schools money rather than their own, almost all the boys around here went to that Toccoa School. It was a fine arts and trade school, they pulled kids from everywhere. He knew Gene was interested in becoming a paramedic, it suited him well and they offered quite a few courses there for it. Most of the Pacific grill employees attended there and the boys at generation Café were a mixture of Army school and Toccoa. Toye, Frank and George all went to Babe’s public school but the rest of the boys at Toye’s also went to Toccoa. Hearing the accents around the school was quite funny, but Gene’s Louisianan drawl was still his favourite.

Pressed up next to him Gene was munching on his fruit loops, he had his lifeguard hoodie back on. Babe had reluctantly given it back after the teasing got a bit too much. “Gene how are you wearing a hoodie it’s like 30 degrees right now” Babe mumbled through a bite of his breakfast. Luz piped up from where he was sprawled over Frank; the two boys had also changed back into their boxers even after Skinny insisted he had extra swim trunks. He lifted his head so he could see Gene. “Yeah doc, it’s hot as fuck right now. I’m sticking to Perco as we speak” Frank made a disgusted face and George just returned it with a blinding smile. Gene at first shrugged “I’m from the bayou; you don’t know what hot is.” He stated, his accent almost seemed to thicken and he smiled tiredly at Luz. 

Skinny was currently wading around by himself. The water was glistening as the sunlight reflected off it, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, Skinny was a good looking kid. Even for his age he must get attention, he had defiantly caught someone’s. Julian had been sitting on the other side of him, once again feeding his social media addiction, but he seemed to be taking a photo. Babe leaned over and saw he was taking photos of Wayne swimming. The one currently on the phone screen was beautiful; it was of Wayne mid shaking the water out of his hair. The colours were just astonishing and because of Julian’s obsession with his phone, his camera was extremely good. Julian was smiling at the photo until he noticed someone had their face directly pressed against the side of his. “Um I can explain” He whispered, fear of what Babe would do seeping into his words. Babe grinned widely at his friend; he could be the devil sometimes. “Oh I won’t say anything Jules, but stalking is a crime y’know” Julian let out an angry huff and turned his phone off, making sure the photo wasn’t seen by anymore prying eyes. Honestly Julian loved to take photos of people; one of his most liked photos is from one his and Babe’s many visits to Vancouver. It was a photo of Babe, they had just visited a vegan ice cream place and he had a bright pink ice cream cone in his hands…and everywhere around his mouth. The colours looked amazing and everyone joked about the ice-cream matching the pink snapback he had on in the photo. He had photos of everyone, some of his favourites included: Spina sitting in the middle of Babe, Bill and Joe Toye who were all laughing and eating lunch, but Spina was writing notes for his biology final. Skinny has mentioned it looked like a renaissance painting. There was also a photo of Bill in the driver’s seat of his first car, smiling as he listened to the radio. Julian couldn’t remember what song was playing, but he couldn’t forget the amazing feeling of freedom he got from driving down the highway in the low light. Babe and Spina were in the back, they picked them up as the four of them were headed to a concert. And the most recent of his posts was a photo he posted this morning before anyone was awake. He had taken two but only posted one; it was of Wayne lying on his stomach sleeping. The sun had just risen so the beams of light hit him in a dreamy kinda way, he looked like an angel. The second photo, he decided, would get him killed if he posted it. It was of Babe, curled up next to Gene, his arms wrapped around Babe as they both slept. Gene of course moved when he woke up but Julian caught the sweet moment, being the first up that morning. He looked up to realize Skinny had gotten out of the pool and was walking back over to the boys, carrying a towel to dry his hair off. Babe had taken the opportunity of Julian’s daydreaming, to take his phone. He turned it on and handed it to a confused looking Wayne; he had made sure the photo was on the screen. Julian realized what Babe did and rocketed from where he was sitting onto the other boy. He sent both him and Skinny toppling onto the floor, Julian pressed against Skinny’s chest. Skinny was holding the photo behind his attackers head so he could see the screen. “Shit Julian these are really good, you made me look cute!” Wayne was gasping a bit for air underneath the weight. As soon as Julian had flipped so he was facing up, to grab his phone back out of Skinny’s flailing arms, Luz pounced and snatched the phone. “John Julian” He gasped “Are you taking photos of our favourite customer without permission” Julian flipped back over again so he could get up, but Skinny Sisk was faster. He wrapped his arms around the others torso and rolled so he was on top of Julian. “Dude Skinny is like 90 pounds get it together” Babe teased, enjoying the show. Gene let out a small laugh at how Wayne had managed to pin Julian, who was almost a foot taller, down. Underneath Julian was red with embarrassment. The sound of someone’s phone ringing caught the group’s attention. Everyone started patting down their pockets to see if it was their phone making the obnoxious noise. Babe pulled his out; he had a new message from Bill, a snapchat from Spina and some emails but no phone call. Finally Luz pulled his phone out from under Frank and clicked to answer it, giving Frank an annoyed look. “Hey Skip what’s u- okay calm down. Skip we don’t hate you, you’re camping idiot! Of course we didn’t invite you” Luz groaned at his phone and put it on speaker for everyone to hear. “WHAT IS THIS ABOUT A PARTY? AND FREE FOOD? YOU ALL ARE FILTHY TRAITORS AND LEFT ME OUT” Babe could hear Malarkey in the background laughing at his boyfriend’s anger. “Skip you’re gonna be back on Monday, I’ll promise we’ll do something all together okay?” Skinny reasoned with the upset teen, he was still on top of Julian but now had sat himself on his lower stomach. You could hear Skip sigh on the other side of the line. “Fine but you still owe me big time” He grumbled before hanging up on them.

Gene dropped Babe off at his house about two hours before his shift, he decided he should probably check Bill’s message, which now was under tons of image drops from Julian and a missed call from Spina that he would need to check. He opened up him and Bill’s conversation, the new text was decently long. 

“Hey Babe, miss you jackass!! Sorry I’ve been gone most of the summer touring colleges and army schools but Joe told me about your new job, lucky bastard. Good news, I’ll be home for the camping trip, heard they found some good cliff jumping spots out there. Maybe I’ll get a chance to meet this boy Jules has been telling me about” 

He had put a gun emoji at the end, of course. Babe had almost completely forgotten about the camping trip, it was the whole reason he got a Job. They were going to be staying at cabins all the way out in Chilliwack, Canada. He was used to Canada, Julian and Spina had family in Vancouver so they visited constantly, he loved it in the winter when there would be a dusting of snow covering the city. The summer was so full of life though, people biking up and down ocean view, music filling the street and cherry blossoms being taken by the wind through the bustling streets. It was also really LGBT friendly and had a few crosswalks painted rainbow, Julian lied down on one once and got Babe to take a photo. It was really their home away from home. Babe wasn’t too happy that Julian spilled about Gene but he’d be lying if he said he was surprised. He typed out a response, a few threats of not scaring Gene and sent a few of the photos Julian shared. One caught his eye, he hadn’t gone through all the photos from the night but he was only really sending Bill photos of Toye if he was being honest. He went onto his camera roll and clicked on the thumbnail to look at it closer. It looked like Julian taken it this morning; it was of Babe and Gene sleeping. Babe was on his back, sprawled slightly. Gene was next to him; he was on his side and had his arm behind Babe’s head. The part that really made Babe flutter was Gene had his head tucked into Babe’s neck, his other arm thrown over Babe’s stomach. Of course a lot of the boys slept like that, they were all extremely close. He’s pretty sure Luz and Perco give each other good night kisses for fucks sake but Gene wasn’t like that. He usually was only physical with Babe, of course he had no idea what he was like with Snafu. But the fact that they basically cuddled last night, Gene must have realized Babe had his sweater on. His heart felt like it was beating out of his chest, god get it together Babe. He decided to distract himself by calling Spina back while he got ready for day two of his 3 day shift.

The phone only rang twice before Spina picked up. “Hey Spina, you called me yeah?” He could hear Spina moving on the other side of the call, most likely trying to clean the disaster that was him room. None of them ever wanted to sleep over there because the anatomy posters looked freaky at night; the place was a constant mess a well. “Yeah hey Babe…I did call you uh I needed to ask you about something…let me think” Spina sounded stressed; the boy was usually the chill friend of the group so this worried Babe. “Right, so you know how my parents are going on a business trip this week” Spina had mentioned something about it to them in the group chat. “Yeah, what about it?” He replied as he started to stuff items in his backpack. “Well they’re sending me back over to Vancouver while they’re gone. Dad saved up some air miles and my mom’s job at the airport means we get a lot of deals. They said to bring some friends along with me, Bill is still out of town but Julian said he’s coming.” Babe now realized why Spina was so stressed, he hated flying. If you looked up nervous flyer it wouldn’t be in the dictionary it would be tattooed on Spina’s forehead. “Oh oh Julian’s bringing Skinny, you can bring whoever you want. Except if I sit on a plane with either Luz talking my ear off or Liebgott whining I swear to god” Babe laughed at that, Spina was a people person but not when he was as stressed as this. “Of course Spina, anything for you. I’ll smooth out the details later I need to get to work, love you.” Babe drew out the ‘love you’ for dramatic effect. “Bye Babe, love you too.” Spina grumbled out before hanging up. It was only a 6 hour flight to Vancouver but Babe still felt bad for the guy. When he stepped out of the house it was still quite warm out, the sun immediately hitting his face and destroying his vision. He shielded his eyes and went to grab for his bike, he didn’t realise how long he was getting ready and he didn’t want to be late. Especially on a Friday Shift, it was the busiest day of the week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you guys prefer longer chapters not as often or what im doing now??


	7. Airports and early mornings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gene and Babe head off to the airport for their week long Vancouver trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ! this is basically part 1 and part 2 should be up soon, just been a long time since i've updated!

Babe woke up to his phone violently vibrating next to his ear. He picked it up without even checking who was calling, he knew the phone light would hurt his eyes. His shift last night was tough, they had a lot of grumpy customers, he assumed the bad traffic was making everyone frustrated. The delivery boys in particular looked a bit homicidal, he didn’t think Liebgott could look anymore pissed off. Even Roe seemed grumpy, even though Babe only had one conversation with him. He heard some mumbling coming from his phone and remembered to put it on speaker. “Hello?” Babe heard a small laugh "Hey Edward, I know you had a busy shift and everything last night, but please tell me you remembered we need to leave for the airport in an hour" Roe's deep, early morning voice could have lulled him back to sleep if it wasn't for the realization that yes, he had forgotten. The conversation from last night was him inviting Gene to come to Vancouver, how did he manage to forget. "Um maybe, when are you swinging 'round to pick me up, I haven’t gotten out of bed yet heh" Babe sounded calm as he ripped his sheets off and threw open his closet door, searching for his suitcase. He could hear an awkward 'mmmm' from Gene on the other side of the phone. "I've been standing outside your house waiting for you to answer your phone, I was too nervous to knock" He admitted.  
-  
Babe jogged downstairs in his Dad's university hoodie and his boxers, His hair was sticking out everywhere and he had mismatched socks on. Normally he wouldn’t let Gene see him like this, but it was too early in the morning for a teenage boy to be awake, or give a flying fuck about appearance. He unbolted the front door and opened it to see Gene, wearing an embarrassed smile. Babe smiled warmly back at him, Gene was an angel on his doorstep, an angel who looked like he really needed some coffee. "Hey Gene, are you excited for weekend in Vancouver?" ‘with me’ he thought to himself. Babe padded bare foot into the kitchen to put coffee on to brew. “Yeah it sounds like a cool area, where are we staying by the way?” Babe opened the fridge, sticking his ass out enough to make Gene stutter a little. “Well originally the plan was to stay on Spina’s family property but they’re having renovations so were spending half the week in a hotel.” Gene was reminded how excited he used to get about Shelton coming to sleepover, they used to pretend they were at a fancy hotel. He could see the same childish joy in Babe. He was only months older than the other boy, but Babe was defiantly younger at heart. 

Taking notice of the fact they were alone gene gave the other boy a confused look. “Where’s your family, don’t you have siblings?” Roe had scanned the first floor of Babe’s house with his eyes and saw no signs of life, there weren’t any lights on and the you could hear the birds tweet in the silence. Babe huffed a laugh at his question, it was around 6am on a Saturday morning, what madman would be awake? “They’re all asleep, we’ll leave before any of them put a foot out of their beds” Roe smiled softly at that, Shelton was hell to wake up on any given morning. Today he managed to slip out of the dorm without waking the other boy. He had left money for Merriell to get breakfast and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, it had been a tradition since they were young boys running around the bayou, they never thought much of it. Being away from the other boy for a week made him a bit uneasy. He knew that Shelton had friends that came round to their dorm every once and awhile. He really liked the pretty looking brunette, Burgie, he always came by to drag a very displeased Shelton to class. And the fragile looking southern boy, they shared a name but Shelton always addressed the other boy as Sledge. The two worked together and seemed a bit soft on each other. He always caught Sledge staring a little too obviously, coming around a little too often. He liked seeing Sledge come over, he reminded Gene of Babe.

After finishing brewing coffee and giving it to Roe in a chipped mug, they jogged up to Babe’s room to finish packing, they had about 30 minutes to pack everything into Babe’s ‘suitcase’ it wasn’t a very long drive to the airport. Babe knew they would be early, almost half an hour earlier than the rest of the boys, but he didn’t like to see Gene all panicked. Babe had thrown an old red duffel bag onto his bedroom floor and was yanking clothes out of his drawers without consideration. Gene scanned Babe’s room from where he sat on the bed. It was decently sized, it had a huge window and a desk covered in paper, notes and scribbles. He had a closet to the right and his bed was in the top left corner, his walls were covered in photos and other random memorabilia. He had a few movie and band posters. Babe’s walls were white, he could assume the boy liked daylight. Now that the sun was rising it streaked across the wooden floor, giving a heavenly feel. Babe was continuing to mumble to himself, he had now seated himself on the floor next to his duffel. He held a camera in his hand, he didn’t realise Babe was into photography. “Hey Edward, what’s up with the camera?” Babe made a small humming noise. “It’s the family camera, my mom says I can bring it. Julian loves it so I always bring it on Vancouver trips” Babe smiled down at the camera, running a thumb across it. “Must have a lot of memories in it.” Gene replied, the two teenagers shared a soft smile. A moment of absolute youth as they sat in the cluttered room, the sun rays hitting Babe’s hair making him look angelic. It felt like they could stay teenagers forever. Babe blushed slightly being under Gene’s unintentionally intense stare, “Hey I’m going to go grab a shower and then we can leave yeah?” He nodded back, shaken out of his daydream.

As they got into the truck Roe had a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something important.  
-  
The two boys were now on their way to the airport, Babe had the song thunderstruck blasting as they rode in Gene’s beat up truck. He knew Julian and Skinny were getting a ride from Julian’s mom, and Spina usually took a cab when going places without his parents or Bill. He didn’t trust many people’s driving skills, well he didn’t trust anyone’s driving skills. Outside the window the highway was full of early morning workers, rushing about in their cars, most likely over the speed limit with a hot coffee. The sun had now come up over the horizon and basked Gene’s truck in warm sunlight, bright enough to see the specks of dust floating in front of Babe’s eyes. He opened the window slightly, letting some fresh air blow in. Gene was smiling to myself, mumbling along to the music, so Babe turned it up. He started to scream the lyrics to ‘Doctor Doctor’ at the top of his lungs, throwing in some air guitar and odd car dance moves. Gene started laughing and singing along, they blasted music and sang with each other the entire ride to the airport.

As they pulled up to the airport Babe could see Gene’s eyes widen as realization hit him. The other suddenly let out a groan, he pulled into a parking spot, turned off the engine and hid his face on the steering wheel. Babe turned to look at him with an eyebrow raised, he waited to see if Gene would lift his head but he was just softly tapping his forehead against the wheel. “Gene what’s wrong, I know were early but we should get inside” Gene lifted his head and pulled out his phone, before clicking onto a contact number he shot Babe an apologetic smile. After a few rings, whoever was on the other end seemed to answer “Hey Merriell…yes I know you don’t want to be awake. I forgot to ask Joe to come with us to drive the car back.” Babe hadn’t even thought about it till now, obviously they couldn’t just leave Gene’s truck here. He felt bad for the other teen though, he’s heard Merriell had quite the edge to him. “Fine. Yes I will. Just be here soon and bring Eugene if you can, then you can drive HOV lane…ok I’ll meet you in the entrance way.” Gene hung up the phone and looked over at Babe with a worried look. “Well I guess you’re meeting Merriell”


End file.
